13
BEYOND
THE
HUNTING
GROUND
A
man
came
to
my
door
saying
his
stalk
of
a
deer
extended
well
beyond
the
designated
hunting
ground
to
end
with
me,
on
my
ground.
“Are
you
aware
of
my
deer?”
he
asked.
(I
disdain
the
killing
of
deer
and
rankled
at
his
expectation
of
advice
to
press
his
trespass.)
“No,”
I
said,
preparing
to
object,
but
he
promptly
asked
whether…
hunting
had
in
pre-‐history
preceded
mystery,
that,
of
course,
hunters’
need
of
food
had
preceded
belief,
following
immediately
afterwards
the
children’s
thanks
for
full
stomachs.
Tracking
deer
or
other
game
when
hungry
became
the
adoration
of
many
deities
for
which
hunters
erected
memorial
stones,
near
paths
immemorial
for
pointed
antlers.
To
build
my
house,
I
cleared
the
land
of
alder,
cottonwood
and
fir,
revealing
swathes
of
asphalt,
rusted
tools,
abandoned
welds
and
windmill
blades
in
piles.
Did
believing
hunters
return
to
now
my
land,